The present invention relates broadly to compounds that are useful as potassium channel inhibitors. Compounds in this class may be useful as Kv1.5 antagonists for treating and preventing cardiac arrhythmias, and the like, and as Kv1.3 inhibitors for treatment of immunosuppression, autoimmune diseases, and the like.
Voltage gated potassium channels (Kv) are multimeric membrane proteins composed of four α subunits and are often associated with accessory β subunits. Kv channels are typically closed at resting membrane potentials, but open upon membrane depolarization. They are involved in the repolarization of the action potential and thus in the electrical excitability of nerve and muscle fibers. The Kv1 class of potassium channels is comprised of at least seven family members, named Kv1.1, Kv1.3, Kv1.5, etc. Functional voltage-gated K+ channels may exist either as homo-oligomers composed of identical subunits, or hetero-oligomers of different subunit composition. This phenomenon is thought to account for the wide diversity of K+ channels. However, subunit compositions of native K+ channels and the physiologic role that particular channels play are, in most cases, still unclear.
The Kv1.3 voltage-gated potassium channel is found in neurons, blood cells, osteoclasts and T-lymphocytes. Membrane depolarization by Kv1.3 inhibition has been shown to be an effective method to prevent T-cell proliferation and therefore has applications in many autoimmune conditions. Inhibition of K+ channels in the plasma membrane of human T-lymphocytes has been postulated to play a role in eliciting immunosuppressive responses by regulating intracellular Ca++ homeostasis, which has been found to be important in T-cell activation. Blockade of the Kv1.3 channel has been proposed as a novel mechanism for eliciting an immunosuppressant response (Chandy et al., J. Exp. Med. 160: 369, 1984; Decoursey et al., Nature, 307: 465, 1984). However, the K+ channel blockers employed in these early studies were non-selective. In later studies, Margatoxin, which blocks only Kv1.3 in T-cells, was shown to exhibit immunosuppressant activity in both in vitro and in vivo models. (in et al., J. Exp. Med, 177: 637, 1993). The therapeutic utility of this compound, however, is limited by its potent toxicity. Recently, a class of compounds has been reported that may be an attractive alternative to the above-mentioned drugs (U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,670,504; 5,631,282; 5,696,156; 5,679,705; and 5,696,156). While addressing some of the activity/toxicity problems of previous drugs, these compounds tend to be of large molecular weight and are generally produced by synthetic manipulation of a natural product, isolation of which is cumbersome and labor intensive.
Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common sustained cardiac arrhythmia in clinical practice and is likely to increase in prevalence with the aging of the population. Conservative estimates indicate that AF affects >2 million Americans, represents over 5% of all admissions for cardiovascular diseases and leads to a 3- to 5-fold increase in the risk of stroke (Kannel et al, Am. J. Cardiol., 82:2N-9 N, 1998). While AF is rarely fatal, it can impair cardiac function and lead to complications such as the development of congestive heart failure, thromboembolism, or ventricular fibrillation.
Reentrant excitation (reentry) has been shown to be a prominent mechanism underlying supraventricular arrhythmias in man (Nattel, S., Nature, 415:219-226, 2002). Reentrant excitation requires a critical balance between slow conduction velocity and sufficiently brief refractory periods to allow for the initiation and maintenance of multiple reentry circuits to coexist simultaneously and sustain AF. Increasing myocardial refractoriness by prolonging action potential duration (APD) prevents and/or terminates reentrant arrhythmias. Action potential duration is determined by the contributions of the repolarizing potassium currents IKr, IKs, and IKur, and the transient outward current, Ito. Blockers of any one of these currents would therefore be expected to increase the APD and produce antiarrhythmic effects.
Currently available antiarrhythmic agents have been developed for the treatment of ventricular and atrial/supraventricular arrhythmias. Malignant ventricular arrhythmias are immediately life-threatening and require emergency care. Drug therapy for ventricular arrhythmia includes Class Ia (eg. procainamide, quinidine), Class Ic (eg. flecainide, propafenone), and Class III (amiodarone) agents, which pose significant risks of proarrhythmia. These Class I and III drugs have been shown to convert AF to sinus rhythm and to prevent recurrence of AF (Mounsey, J P, DiMarco, J P, Circulation, 102:2665-2670), but pose an unacceptable risk of potentially lethal ventricular proarrhythmia and thus may increase mortality (Pratt, C M, Moye, L A, Am J. Cardiol., 65:20B-29B, 1990; Waldo et al, Lancet, 348:7-12, 1996; Torp-Pedersen et al, Expert Opin. Invest. Drugs, 9:2695-2704, 2000). These observations demonstrate a clear unmet medical need to develop safer and more efficacious drugs for the treatment of atrial arrhythmias.
Class III antiarrhythmic agents cause a selective prolongation of the APD without significant depression of cardiac conduction or contractile function. The only selective Class III drug approved for clinical use in atrial fibrillation is dofetilide, which mediates its anti-arrhythmic effects by blocking IKr, the rapidly activating component of IK found in both atrium and ventricle in humans (Mounsey, J P, DiMarco, J P, Circulation, 102:2665-2670). Since IKr blockers increase APD and refractoriness both in atria and ventricle without affecting conduction per se, theoretically they represent potentially useful agents for the treatment of arrhythmias like AF (Torp-Pedersen, et al, Expert Opin. Invest. Drugs, 9:2695-2704, 2000). However, these agents have the major liability of an enhanced risk of proarrhythmia at slow heart rates. For example, torsades de points has been observed when these compounds are utilized (Roden, D. M. “Current Status of Class III Antiarrhythmic Drug Therapy”, Am J. Cardiol., 72:44B49B, 1993). This exaggerated effect at slow heart rates has been termed “reverse frequency-dependence”, and is in contrast to frequency-independent or forward frequency-dependent actions (Hondeghem, L. M. “Development of Class III Antiarrhythmic Agents”. J. Cardiovasc. Cardiol., 20 (Suppl. 2):S17-S22). Amiodarone has been shown to possess interesting Class III properties (Singh B. N., Vaughan Williams E. M. “A Third Class Of Anti-Arrhythmic Action: Effects On Atrial And Ventricular Intracellular Potentials And Other Pharmacological Actions On Cardiac Muscle, of MJ 1999 and AH 3747” Br. J. Pharmacol., 39:675-689, 1970; Singh B. N., Vaughan Williams E. M, “The Effect Of Amiodarone, A New Anti-Anginal Drug, On Cardiac Muscle”, Br. J. Pharmacol., 39:657-667, 1970), although it is not a selective Class III agent because it effects multiple ion channels; additionally, its use is severely limited due to its side effect profile (Nademanee, K. “The Amiodarone Odyssey”. J. Am. Coll. Cardiol., 20:1063-1065, 1992; Fuster et al, Circulation, 104:2118-2150, 2001; Bril, A. Curr. Opin. Pharmacol. 2:154-159, 2002). Thus, currently available agents such as amiodarone and Class III drugs confer a significant risk of adverse effects including the development of potentially lethal ventricular proarrhythmia.
The ultrarapid delayed rectifier K+ current, IKur, has been observed specifically in human atrium and not in ventricle. The molecular correlate of IKur in the human atrium is the potassium channel designated Kv1.5. Kv1.5 mRNA (Bertaso, Sharpe, Hendry, and James, Basic Res. Cardiol., 97:424-433, 2002) and protein (Mays, Foose, Philipson, and Tamkun, J. Clin. Invest., 96:282-292, 1995) have been detected in human atrial tissue. In intact human atrial myocytes, an ultra-rapidly activating delayed rectifier K+ current (IKur), also known as the sustained outward current, Isus or Iso, has been identified and this current has properties and kinetics identical to those expressed by the human K+ channel clone (hKv1.5, HK2) [Wang, Fermini and Nattel, Circ. Res., 73:1061-1076, 1993; Fedida et al., Circ. Res. 73:210-216, 1993; Snyders, Tamkun and Bennett, J. Gen. Physiol., 101:513-543, 1993] and a similar clone from rat brain (Swanson et al., Neuron, 4:929-939, 1990). Furthermore, because of its rapidity of activation and limited slow inactivation, IKur is believed to contribute significantly to repolarization in human atrium. Consequently, a specific blocker of IKur, that is a compound which blocks Kv1.5, would overcome the shortcoming of other compounds by prolonging refractoriness through retardation of the repolarization in the human atrium without causing the delays in ventricular repolarization that underlie arrhythmogenic after depolarizations and acquired long QT syndrome observed during treatment with current Class III drugs. Kv1.5 blockers exhibiting these properties have been described (Peukert et al, J. Med. Chem., 46:486-498, 2003; Knobloch et al, Naunyn-Schmedieberg's Arch. Pharmacol. 366:482-287, 2002; Merck & Co., Inc. WO0224655, 2002).
The compounds described in this invention represent a novel structural class of Kv1.5 antagonist.